Flea turns jazz trumpeter on his first solo album at the age of 63, and brings in his old Atoms For Peace bandmate Thom Yorke.

Who knew that Flea, the hyperactive bare-chested (and now bare-headed) bass guitarist of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, was also a trumpeter? Or that he had a penchant for jazz?

Not me, but he’s just combined both for his first solo album, Honora. And it’s pretty good.

Most of it is instrumental, including a version of Funkadelic’s mind-blowing Maggot Brain with trumpet replacing Eddie Hazel’s famous guitar solo, but there’s a spoken word number called A Plea on which he hippyishly pleads for peace and love amid the madness of the world today.

There are also two guest vocalists: Nick Cave performing the old Jimmy Webb/Glen Campbell classic Wichita Lineman, and Thom Yorke, who first collaborated with Thom in Atoms For Peace in 2009.

I know there are those who find Thom Yorke’s voice a bit on the mopey whiney side, and I’m not going to disagree that he can mope and whine with the best of them. But on most occasions it fits with the music, as it does on this track, Traffic Lights.

I love its dreamy, hypnotic quality and its almost liquid groove, with Jeff Parker’s jazzy George Bensonesque guitar runs alongside Flea’s surprisingly good trumpeting; apparently it was the first instrument he learned before realising rock stardom offered more money and fame.

And, to be fair, it’s not at all mopey or whiney. In fact it’s lovely.